Early works have started on a two-tower apartment development within the heart of a Sunshine Coast town.
Demolition crews have been working on the corner of Currie and Bury streets in Nambour, to prepare the site for two connected towers that will include 162 apartments and a food and drink outlet.
Meanwhile, new renders have provided a glimpse of what it could look like.
The eight-floor precinct, which could be opened by 2028, has been labelled ‘rooming accommodation’ with one-bedroom units and shared facilities.
Developer Rod Constantinides of ARM Property Investment Group said it was much needed in the area.
“The apartments are aimed at people squeezed out of the Sunshine Coast housing market who don’t need a full house: hospital and infrastructure workers, older residents wanting independence without a house’s upkeep or a retirement village, and young people leaving home who don’t want a share house,” he said, after previously rejecting critics’ assertions that it would be a social housing tower.
“Australia’s average household size fell from 2.6 people in 2016 to 2.5 in 2021: a small-looking drop that translates to roughly 4 per cent more homes needed to house the same population, independent of any population growth.”
He said the location was suitable.
“More residents living in town – not just working or shopping there – improves passive surveillance of the street after hours and increases local spending in nearby cafes and shops.”
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He detailed the design of the development.
“Shared resident amenities include a co-working space and a bath house with sauna, hot tubs and steam rooms,” he said.
“The ground floor includes commercial tenancies for cafes and retail, plus an onsite caretaker providing round-the-clock management.
“Rather than joining the two towers into one sealed building, they’re split apart with a semi-outdoor circulation space between them, which acts like a vertical stack to draw hot air up and out and help passively cool the building in summer. That in-between space will be filled with landscaping reflecting the Sunshine Coast’s sub-tropical setting.
“Both towers are oriented north-south to maximise natural light and cross-ventilation into the apartments.”
The site was perhaps best well known for hosting a Retravision and the Carolans Arcade during the 1990s. More recently, it was home to tenants including Small Change Espresso, Maoiri Pizza and Saint Atlas vintage furniture.
Sunshine Coast News asked Mr Constantinides how traffic could be impacted during works.
He said WorkSafe, the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Sunshine Coast Council “are assisting to provide the safest outcome for the community as they all have their own unique requests”.
